FDR defended

To the editor:

This is in reference to Larry Ensey’s letter in last week’s paper.

I was born in 1929. Today, I am celebrating my 95th birthday. I am insulted by Ensey — no, I’m not going to say Mr. — because he didn’t look up history on President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He was the only president elected for four terms. He took over from a person who couldn’t do the job for a country that was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Our dads, sons, and cousins were buried Dec. 7, 1941, in a watery grave.

Women were allowed to work in factories. The U.S. paid for teenagers to become nurses. Women learned to fly planes because men needed to fight for our nation. Women enlisted as Navy WAVES, Army WACS, and Air Force WASPS, and the Coast Guard was activated.

President Roosevelt established rationing. Ensey’s grandmother didn’t tell him, but we had ration books for food, books, and clothing. We had to ration five pounds of sugar a month. Shortening also was rationed. Shoes were resoled instead of getting new ones. Bacon grease was not thrown away, nor was anything else that made shortening. If you had a large family and you received more of something than you needed, it was shared with grandmas who were by themselves.

Mr. Roosevelt helped save our country from takeover from Germany, Italy, and Japan. When peace was won, our president was ill, but he was there to sign the peace treaty.

If he was alive, he never would have enlisted people to destroy the U.S. Capitol, question the outcome of the voting system, or destroy mailboxes. For him to write what he did about President Roosevelt was wrong!

Madonna Schafers
Marion